Jeff Beck, Eddie Van Halen, and a Life in Music Journalism

Host Jesse Jackson welcomes back music journalist and author Steve Rosen to discuss his new Jeff Beck book, rewritten and expanded from a Japan-only 1978 biography originally commissioned by Player magazine. Rosen recounts growing up in Culver City listening to early rock, discovering Jeff Beck through the Yardbirds and seeing the Jeff Beck Group in 1969, and how learning guitar fueled a deep-dive curiosity that led to music journalism. He describes his earliest reviews for school papers, the LA Free Press, and eventually major rock and guitar magazines, plus meeting and befriending Eddie Van Halen in 1977. Rosen explains why Beck was under-covered—rare touring, long gaps, and instrumental direction—shares musicians’ respect for Beck alongside stories of his erratic bandleading, plugs tonechaserbook.com, and answers the “Thunder Road” question.

https://a.co/d/005a57V5

01:28 Meet Steve Rosen 02:48 Jeff Beck Book Reborn 04:46 Growing Up in Culver City 07:53 Falling for Jeff Beck 11:13 Deep Dive Guitar Obsession 14:25 First Byline Breakthrough 20:41 Meeting Eddie Van Halen 26:11 Writing the First Beck Bio 29:09 Rewriting the Beck Book 29:47 Why Beck Stayed Underrated 32:27 Artists on Beck’s Genius 33:05 Band Leader Chaos Stories 34:52 The Grind Behind Touring 37:31 Tech Changed Music Careers 40:02 YouTube as a Learning Accelerator 45:06 Does Mary Get in the Car 50:07 Final Plugs and Farewell

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices